The present invention relates to the construction of swimming pools and other concrete structures and, more particularly, to apparatus for providing an anchor in concrete and confining board structure against a wall.
Permanently installed backyard swimming pools typically are formed y excavating a hole in the ground generally following the contour desired for the pool, and then lining the hole with reinforcing steel on top of which a cement mixture is sprayed to form a concrete bottom and concrete side walls. A thickened concrete portion, referred to in the art as a "bond beam," is provided around the pool at the top of the side walls to structurally define the peripheral edge of the pool and tie together the pool side walls. After the concrete forming the pool bottom, side walls and bond beam have cured sufficiently, the cavity defining faces of the concrete are covered with a suitable finishing material. A concrete deck or walkway having a surface texture of a desired type is also provided around the pool edge.
It is now common to finish most of the interior wall surfaces of a swimming pool by facing the same with a finishing coat of a fine aggregate concrete or the like. It is generally necessary, though, to provide a horizontal row of tile adjacent the upper edge portion of the pool side walls at the elevation at which the water level is to be maintained in the pool. The purpose of such tile band is to provide a hard, strain-resistant wall surface at the pool waterline to facilitate removal of body oils and other debris which collect on the water surface and adhere to the pool wall at the waterline.
After concrete for the tile band has been secured to the pool wall during construction of the pool, the deck around the edge of the pool is poured. In this connection, a form is positioned along the band, with a portion thereof projecting upwardly beyond the edge of the pool. The form provides a surface configuration above the pool wall against which the deck concrete is poured to apply a desired surface configuration to the inner edge of the deck. The upper surface of the deck is texturized or otherwise finished, and the pool walls below the band of tile are covered with a finishing coating in order to complete the pool.
In the construction of a pool as described above, it is desirable to affix board structures of one sort or another to the concrete pool wall for various purposes. For example, a ledger board is now typically secured to the pool wall to define an appropriate horizontal alignment for the tile band and to support tile when it is secured to the wall. Alternatively, the pool wall itself can provide proper tile alignment in accordance with the method and apparatus described in my copending patent application Ser. No. 483,222, filed June 26, 1974, for FORM BOARD FOR SWIMMING POOL BOND BEAM AND METHOD UTILIZING THE SAME FOR SECURING A ROW OF TILES IN ALIGNMENT ALONG AN IRREGULAR FACE OF A SWIMMING POOL BOND BEAM. While such method and apparatus eliminates the necessity of a ledger board, it does require a form board to be supported horizontally along the concrete wall. Irrespective of the particular manner in which the tile is aligned and secured to the swimming pool wall, a deck form board is then secured to the wall to define the inner edge or boundary of the deck as discussed above.
From the above, it will be seen that it is necessary to secure one or more difficult elongated board structures temporarily to a concrete wall of a swimming pool during the construction of such pool. My copending application Ser. No. 438,018, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,717, describes and claims both a method and apparatus for providing such a temporary securance. The present invention represents improvements to such apparatus.